The Legend of the Token

We have often been asked: Why use the name Pilar Services? The curiosity and confusion stems from the fact that Pilar is a very common Spanish female surname. Not a likely name choice for a company whose principal line of business is providing information technology and management consulting services to the U.S. federal government. Actually, the company has taken its name from a very rare, old Mexican token. The Pilar token was selected because it symbolizes our corporate philosophy of sharing the wealth. Not much is know of the origin of the Pilar token except what is provided in the tales and legends of the history surrounding the Sombrero Mines of New Mexico in the late 1840's. As with all legends, they are a mixture of fact and fiction combined to create a myth to embellish an event. So it is with the legend of the Pilar token. We hope that, after reading the legend, the reader will come away with a greater appreciation of fundamental tenets and principles that form the foundation our company.

The Legend of the Pilar Token

Circa the year of 1845, Don Miguel Peralta (patriarch of a famous and wealthy Spanish family), together with his sons and an army of men, horses, cattle, burros and supplies, marched north from their homes in Mexico to dig for gold. They settled in the territory that is now known as New Mexico and home of the Apache Indian tribe. The mines were called the Sombrero Mines, named primarily for a prominent hat-shaped peak in the area of the mines.

The Peralta party established a base camp near water where the arrastras and smelters would be erected to crush and process the ore. From this base camp, the men were organized into small groups and sent into the surrounding hills to work various claims.

Mostly, the Apache left the intruding miners alone. However, when the miners began working a rich deposit of gold ore on land sacred to the Apache, they became greatly angered. The Apache warned the miners to stop digging in the sacred land—the abode of their ‘Thunder God.’ But Peralta refused to quit such a lucrative deposit of ore, and the Apache had no choice but to defend the honor of their god and protect his domain. Peralta was neither concerned nor intimidated by the threats of the Apache tribes because his forces greatly out-numbered them. The Apache knew this, too, but to allow the desecration of their holy site was not an option.

Therefore, they sent runners to other tribes living throughout the territory with a plea to join arms against the defiant miners. Hatred for the Spanish had long flowed in Apache blood and all the tribes were eager to join in an assault against them. As a large number of warriors began to amass beyond the view of the miners, they planned the attack. It was not uncommon for the Apache to capture women of rival tribes and trade them to the Spaniards for horses and weapons. Many of these captured women worked in the Peralta mining camps in a variety of roles and became wives or lovers of the Spanish miners. It was one such woman (given the popular Spanish surname of Pilar) that learned of the impending attack and, concerned that she and her miner husband might be killed if the Apache won the battle, was responsible for warning the miners.

Now warned, Peralta called the miners from their work early to evacuate the territory the day before the planned attack. Only what gold that could be carried in the saddlebags and on pack animals of the Spanish dons would be taken at this time. The remaining ore would have to stay behind until it was safe to return for it. The Apache noticed the miner’s activity, recognized the attempt to escape and gave the command to attack. When the attack began, a horrifying sound filled the air. Battle cries and thundering hooves led a cloud of dust from multiple directions as the Apache raced toward the camp. The attack resulted in a swift, complete and bloody victory for the Apache.

When the dust settled, Don Miguel Peralta, his sons and many of the men who had accompanied him to Las Minas de las Sombreras lay dead. Only a few horse-mounted dons and a handful of peons with their pack-bound burros that had begun the trek back to the base camp were still alive. Later that evening, some of the surviving dons crept back to the battleground after dark, sorted through the carnage and retrieved the mangled body of Don Miguel. The surviving dons and peons then returned to the Peralta base camp where gold ore they escaped with would be processed and cached in a storehouse and Don Miguel’s body returned to the Peralta family Sonora for proper burial.

Though deeply sadden by the death of her husband and sons, Don Miguel’s widow was thankful for the courageous warning that the woman called Pilar had given. For, without that warning, there would have been no survivors and her husband’s body would have been left for buzzards to feed upon. In order to honor Pilar’s bravery, the widow ordered a token to be created bearing Pilar’s name. Normally, the Peralta miners were paid for their work with grain, food and goods from the stores in each base camp. However, after the great battle at the Sombrero Mines and to memorialize the “extra” efforts of the brave survivors, Pilar Tokens were given as a bonus to those miners that dug the greatest amount of gold ore. The miners could later exchange their Tokens at the local Peralta storehouse for additional food, grain or goods. Many of the peons horded their Tokens until they accumulated a sufficient amount to exchange for enough food and goods to serve as a grub stake to seek a better life. Nobody knows how many Pilar tokens were minted and used by the peons to start a new life, but some say that many farmers and shopkeepers in the Santa Fe area owe their good fortune to their ancestor’s horde of Pilar tokens.

Philosophy of the Pilar Token

The founders of Pilar Services have incorporated the Peralta family concept of the Pilar token as an important part of the company’s culture. The principles of sharing wealth and providing a “grub stake” for future personal endeavors are essential ingredients of the corporate philosophy. To that end, our attorneys and accountants developed a Pilar Services Equity Appreciation Rights Plan (EARP). In some respects, the EARP is similar to “shadow stock” or “phantom stock” plans, in that the shares or units (in the case of the EARP) have no redemption value when purchased or granted. Because the EARP UNITS have no value until they are cashed-in, there is NO tax implication to the holder of those units until redeemed. Additionally, since EARP Units have no value at the time they are granted, there is NO monetary outlay needed by the holder upon redemption. THESE are the major and significant distinctions between the Pilar Services EARP and our competition’s Stock Option programs. To ensure the wealth accrued by the company is shared by all, a significant percentage of units in the EARP has been set aside exclusively for the “Non-Corporate” staff. The intention is for EVERY Pilar Services employee to be a participant in the EARP. EARP units are distributed semi-annually based upon the company’s overall productivity. In addition, units will be used to reward individual performance and as a hire-on incentive (like the Pilar Tokens). The objective is to ensure that EVERY employee “shares the wealth” as Pilar Services attains its strategic goals.